Friday, January 13, 2017

Marvel Select: Spider-Woman

A Spider-Woman figure? What? Yes. This beauty I've had in my collection for a long while now. In fact, she stayed "Mint inside the box" for several years until finally, I decided that it's time to get her out and decorate a certain new area in my game room. I have a few Selects actually and I am still debating if I should open them. The only other one I opened aside from her is Hulkbuster from last year. Alas, let's talk about this figure.

The thing about Marvel Select that kept me from opening their figures for years is that they are actually aesthetically pleasing to display while they are inside the box. They have the transparent plastic that is able to display most of the figure's wonderful sculpt and accessories, and their box has a design that is custom to each character.

The back of the box is your standard 'show the figure' in its prototype form along with some promotional pics of other figures in this series. Though I will point out that the figure in the prototype version is not the same display option as the one we get. But not to tangent off here; the side panel is a cover of Spider-Woman's face. Not the best art rendition of her(and that's Veranke too), but nonetheless, Marvel Select boxes does a fine job highlighting the character to be 'special' in her own right (as they do with all the figures).

The sculpt of the figure is beautiful. Definitely meant to be a sexy figure. It might not be intentional, but her she comes bow-legged from being inside the plastic case for so long that her right knee warped; looks somewhat odd in certain poses from the front, but taken in the back and she it looks sassy. The mold itself is perfect for Jessica Drew; definitely a perfect superheroine in red and yellow tights. The wings are amazing; very supple and for what it does, it doesn't hinder the performance of this 'figure' (we'll get into the articulation later, of course).

The paint is awesome. Marvel Select outdoes Hasbro most of the time when it comes to details on their figures' coloring scheme. Even the hair is well done with black and a little shade of brown. The red tights have a dark tint in some areas for shadowing affect, same with the gloves. All the lines for her gloves, the yellow triangles, the lips, and skin are just done right.

As for accssories, Spider-Woman comes with a base and three Hydra agents. Remember when I told you that the promotional picture in the back for Spider-Woman is misleading? Well, in the picture, Jessica is the center piece and the Hydra agents are surrounding her, reading to incapacitate her(and maybe tie her up). This doesn't really set that up like that. I'll show what they look like together. But just by itself, the stand is a good idea. It really digs into Spider-Woman's role in the Hydra lore; which kind of makes her pretty important since Hydra is a big group in the MCU and the comic books. Details are great and the Hydra busts are all dynamic and expresses the same emotions but differently.

You can set them up pretty much any way you want, but I find this is the best set up. Not bad looking.

Her last accessory is her "venom blast". Now I know Jessica's signature firepower are depicted in various different colors but my headcanon is that they are neon green. Again I've seen it gold and yellow like this, but it's not my favorite take. As an accessory, it's not bad. It only does peg nicely one hand and it would be more useful if the figure is articulated better; let me get to that in a moment.

Here is the whole set up together. Again, doesn't look like Spider-Woman is the center piece. The three Hydra Agents really take away from the whole idea. She really looks out of place.

Marvel Select back then didn't really get its name from making articulated figures; they were more or less articulated beautiful statues. So with that mentioned, Spider-Woman doesn't have a whole lot to offer articulation wise. You can't get a lot of Spider-Y poses; some of her 'flying' poses just looks stoic and that venom blast doesn't really do much if her arms can't move. And because she is sculpted to look pretty, her figure is taking away from her range of movements. One thing she does have that I wish Hasbro would take into consideration is softer hair; I could have really moved her head around BUT because the peg or her head was so stiff, Jessica Drew's head came off. No big deal though since there was super glue.

Here she is next to my other articulated Spider-Woman figures. I'd have to say that the recent Marvel Legends Spider-Woman wins the 'overall' best figure. Still, a good addition to my "Spider-Woman Shrine".

In conclusion, I didn't expect much out of this. I wanted another Spider-Woman figure displayed and here she is. She's greatly sculpted, she looks like Spider-Woman, she some awesome features that wowed me, and she's Spider-Woman! I don't really suggest this Marvel Select to anyone who is looking for a great looking figure that is articulated. But for a Spider-Woman fan, she is a must! I won't be displaying her with the Hydra Agents though. You'll see! Until next time!